Pinewood derby car - where to start?
 

I'm sitting here looking at a block of wood with one week to finish my sons car. Anyone done this that has some tips?

Should it be front heavy? Back heavy? Neutral?

What tools do you use to start shaping it?

well, just let your imagination run free...

The biggest tip is to polish the axles like they've never been polished before...look on the inner part of the head, you'll see little burrs...

As for the body...we're not talking F1 aerodynamics...

1/4" strips of wood glued on the sides make killer widebody cars/fenders I did one where it actually had "skirts" on the sides...the wood strips I glued on nearly touched the track...

I worked a hobby shop a while ago where a guy was a woodworker in the "adult" class, and did an EXACT replica of the "shell livery" porsche 962...it had the diffuser and everything...I wish I had pics...

use a band saw or a good coping saw...band saw works the best...chisels, rasps, all that works great....

be sure you're within the rules...

steve
speaking from childhood experience.

oh yeah...a good finish...

put about 3 coats of clear polyurethane on it...minwax stuff works great...sand lightly/steel wool between coats...it seals the wood and gives you a DEEEEEEP shine.

sjd

Re: Pinewood derby car - where to start?
 

Uh, I was a cub scout once...the idea then was that the scout did the car? Well, maybe a bit of help from dad...but it wasn't (then) designed to be a project for dad. Perhaps that's why my car didn't do well, but it was my car...

Amazingly enough, this has come up before. Some hints here, but make sure you don't break the rules.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/57949-pinwood-derby.html

Tom

Thanks for the advice and the link. I think we're ready to try this. My son has decided to design a F1 type car. This will be a long weekend. I'll handle the saw and let him do everything else.

I remember making pine wood derby cars, great times. I was pretty good at it too. I remember using lots of graphite and having the car weigh in at the maximum. I also won a few 1st prizes in the best looking category. I'll see if i can dig them up and take a few pictures.

Weigh in was today.
 

This is my sons first. The race is next week so we'll see how his F1 (kinda) car does. There's only so much you can do with pine when it comes to airfoils.